Posted on 2012-Nov-12
Writer Knows Best
Prior to writing a book, you might not have to worry about the painstaking process of marketing or advertising any information related to the endeavor. What goes through your mind is the consciousness of writing in how you feel toward a chain of events in your life whether in reality or limitless imagination and honestly sharing with readers the painful or delightful experience you have gone through. Your thinking process meanders far beyond what people might agree or disagree with your contemplation. Despite what bestselling trend dominates the market, you trust your senses in your prioritized genre for the next launch of your eBook to make sure that your author’s identity reflects remains strong.
Book Promotion
Once the creative endeavor is over and your book is shelved along with a million others, you need your authorial voice to breathe life into your book. Although we have been covering how social media could be integrated into your book promotion strategy, we would like to emphasize the significant definition of discoverability through of the busiest center for authors and readers to socialize their reading and writing passion.
Goodreads Interaction
“Goodreads is the place to go get a really honest feeling of what people think of a book,” says its CEO Otis Chandler during an interview with Digital Book World. For those of you who are not familiar with the social network, Goodreads can be equated with Facebook in terms of books. The website specifically helps new and established authors reach their target audience with their Author Program. According to Digital Book World, 12 million registered users have accessed their webpage, excluding the respectable traffic of 28 million unique visitors. With a tech-related background in software engineering, Chandler knew how to gradually concretize eBook discoverability when he developed Goodreads. Imagine a book club that operates globally 24/7 where readers can come in anytime to post their favorite collection. Likewise, authors can share their book’s progress or promotional events directly with like-minded consumers and colleagues.
Discoverability
What is discoverability? Taking you back to the interview with Rick Joyce-Chief (marketing Officer at Perseus Book Group) in May, the term signifies the innovative sales and marketing strategy that currently works best for publishers and what type of strategy does not work for books any more. Giveaways are one of Goodreads’ best examples of discoverability to help propel your new book from anonymity to achieve fan-favorite status. Word-of-mouth turns new regular readers into a loyal fan base that includes book bloggers whose external blogs have become powerful marketing tools. Read the key points summary here to witness the publisher’s transition to stay relevant in the book industry which has evolved so rapidly that success can be anybody’s game. By the assertion of ‘anybody’, the focus is now shifted to the relationship between creator (writer) and consumer (reader) rather than the love triangle between the two parties plus the publisher’s involvement.
Reconsider the Adaptation Alternative
Thanks to the mountainous stack of useful information how writer can gain better discovery rate to market their books, responding to negative reviews can also be seen as an effective tool to show how authors care for their audience. Back in August, we covered how Elle Lothlorien proposed adapting her novels based on readers’ survey on her social media account to make sure her fans can take part in the book’s ending they have bought. The commentary about responding to negative reviews takes her customer service approach one step further.
Negative Reviews
What if authors could apply the business perspective to sell more books? Lothlorien emphasizes the point of how online reviewers are equivalent to readers and buyers alike. Their responses after reading your novel are more valuable than expected, even those that spoil your ideal impression. To handle feedback efficiently, Patricio Robles writes that paying customers’ opinions should be treated like gold instead of lead. Lothlorien further elaborates how negative reviews matter to her. Here’s a big challenge: someone has paid money to dislike her book in order to write a negative review while she’s been keeping their money.
The Importance of Feedback
Of course, everybody loves positive revelation yet feels defensive to accept negative criticism. To be able to respond to both positive and negative reviews, the comments section shows the exemplary effort how she actively clarifies her argument. Sixty thoughts from readers and authors have been pouring to paint the picture of accord and discontent. Although most comments reflect the personal view of individuals, they tend to build a constructive relationship not only between authors and readers, but also authors and authors to find the common ground to understand readers more analytically.
Post-Production Integrity
In order to ultimately reach the desirable discoverability, what authors should focus on remains in your imaginative reservoir to deliver unique content to readers. However, the fate of your success can also lie in the hands of readers whose budget can determine the prolongation of your career. Being able to make use of a customer service approach that is universally accepted in the business world, you might find the perfect balance to evaluate your writing performance. On a rare occasion you might see authors replying to their reader’s disapproval: Lothlorien’s case study does show the post-production initiative how to make discoverability work “better” to her advantage. Do you agree or disagree?
Label: Marketing
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